Below I outline how I would make the Federal Government smaller and more efficient Would I have done this without the current Musk/Trump/DOGE fuss? I think I would because I have been thinking about this and like all those people lined up at the Park in Eagle Pass, a deeper dive into the numbers is very disturbing.
Of first and foremost importance to me however is how individual people are treated. Wrongful firings, mass layoffs, the gratuitous vengence of cancelled security details, pulling of security clearances, all unnecessary cruelty. The unimaginable cruelty of cold turkey cancelling USAID, food, medicine and medical care to impoverished people. And in the case of firing senior national security officers, it is terribly short sighted. I hate cruelty.
So here is what I would do.
- A government wide hiring freeze and shrinkage by attrition. (Department heads can replace critica skills on an individual basis.)
- Offer early retirement.
- A Transition out of Government” program which allow a limied number of unpaid days off to seek other work.
- A cautious pruning, working with Congress, of programs and branches, which can be combined or deleted.
I would replace DOGE with the “Presidential Task Force for Efficient Government” working steadily and continuously with select committees of Congress. It is not flashy and it is not cruel, but it works.
